Song Premiere: Rodney Crowell - "Fever On The Bayou"

Rodney Crowellmay already be well-respected veteran in Americana music, but he certainly hasn’t rested on his laurels: in the wake of a handful of rowdy, unforgettable sets at South By Southwest (including one at our very own Paste Party), Crowell is set to release his newest album, Tarpaper Sky, on April 15. One standout track from the album, “Fever on the Bayou,” is a song that’s been decades in the making.

”’Fever on the Bayou’ began as a collaboration between Will Jennings, writer of many a classic song, and I,” said Crowell. “Due to our inability to come up with a suitable last verse, the song lay dormant for twenty-plus years. An off-chance conversation with a friend of mine in which the word Franglais—an improper synthesis of the French and English languages as I understood it—gave me the idea that the last verse should echo the Cajun French I’d heard working on construction crews along the Texas-Lousiana border. Once I had that last verse the recording was a snap.”

Listen to “Fever on the Bayou” in the lyric video above. Tarpaper Sky is set for release on April 15 via New West.